Get HP Scanjet 2300c to work in Linux

Q I recently converted my small graphic art studio to a GNU/Linux-only environment and wiped my main system clean of Windows, replacing it with Fedora. I have an abundance of open source graphic software tools - Blender, Gimp, Sodipodi, Inkscape, KIconEdit, Qcad and more - which have served me well and should continue to do so. However, I have an HP Scanjet 2300c (USB), which until recently was unsupported by stable Sane back-ends. A few days ago, updated versions of those back-ends (Genesys) came out which do support this scanner. I've tried to download the correct RPM to replace my existing back-ends, but no matter what I do, I can't get it installed or my scanner working.

A You don't say exactly what your problem is - whether it is with installation or configuring the scanner. The version of Sane that supports this scanner is quite new, and hasn't yet made it into the main Fedora package list. There is a package in their development repository, at http://download.fedora.redhat. com/pub/fedora/linux/core/development/i386/Fedora/RPMS/ sane-backends-1.0.16-1.i386.rpm, although the version number may have increased by the time you read this. However, this requires a later version of Glibc, also available from the development repository, which may break other software. Using a development version of such a critical library on a production system is not a good idea, so you need to install the latest Sane from source, replacing the RPM version. Do this as root.

rpm --erase --nodeps sane-backends
rpm --install --justdb /media/cdrom/Fedora/RPMS/sane-backends-1.0.15-9.i386.rpm
tar xzf sane-backends-1.0.16.tar.gz
cd sane-backends-1.0.16
./configure prefix=/usr
make
make install

The rpm commands remove the existing Sane files, but also send a message to the RPM database to make it think that the files are still there. Without this step, an update may try to install the 'missing' files, replacing your new Sane with an older version. Doing it this way means that when the newer version is released as an RPM, your system will be updated as normal.

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